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You are 100% right as is Coach Sands....each year we have improved and followed suit with being consistent. What SOS did at florida seemed to happen overnight, but he had charley pell and galen hall, who won big games but did not kick down the door until SOS got there. As fans and alumni, I am both I have seen glorious games, uf in SOS' first year, Bama in 2010...uga this year, which makes me appreciate what we have as I have also seen the other side of the mountain, fsu in '88; taters in '89...both embarassing shutouts, furman in '82 and the citadel in '92...we are where we need to be...you need a huge example? Look how auburn went from sugar to s&*t in just 2 years....do we want that? NO.....we are where we need to be...WIN ANYWAY!

Perfectly said. Getting to be a national winning program takes a long time of winning consistently. It's a process, that doesn't go straight to the top. People need to consider where we've been and where we are now.....and enjoy the ride. This is now the best we have ever been....ever, after over 1,100 games.

Both sides of the arguement have valid points. But it does suck knowing we have been the best team in the East the last 3 years and have only been to one SECCG. Two bad games each of the last two seasons cost us 3 straight trips.

What should WE do? WE should just watch the games? What the coaches and players should do is do their job a litte better so that we can win that championship so we won't be having lame arguments like this.

sorry man, but you are NOT having an argument. what you are doing is akin to a man trying to argue with a stop sign.. your points have been less than intuitive, profound or with any substance at all.
cofc has been making excellent points, and you just keep coming back with the same old stuff, as if you didn't fully appreciate or understand his points. saying we haven't improved this year is beyond moronic, it is sub moronic. we have, once again, battled through a great deal of adversity, ran a gauntlet of a schedule (which btw, no top team has played three top ten teams in a row, with two of them on the road) and only lost one of those game badly. great teams have off days. it happens. get over it. bama, widely considered in a category of their own, just lost at home to tx a&m. would you judge them as harshly?
WE HAVE HAD OVER A 100 YEARS OF TERRIBLE FOOTBALL! OVER 100 YEARS! AND NOW WE ARE WINNING! DO YOU GET THAT?
it was only a short, short time ago, when we were happy to become bowl illegible. only a short time ago we were bragging on not having a losing season for two years back to back. and now we are a preseason top ten team, have been in the top ten for almost the entire year, and our only losses are to lsu in death valley on a saturday night, and in the swamp to another top five school. and you have the gal to bitch about the coaches doing a better job... ungrateful *&%^&!$*&^*!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard some NFL coach once say that you are what your record says you are. If we win out and win our bowl game then we finish 11-2. Same as last year. Improvement? i don't know. tougher schedule? Yes.

Consistently good teams don't go from putting a thumping on the #5 team at home, to barely losing to the #9 team on the road (a game which most people expected us to win, which would have been possible had we started better), to getting blown out to the #3 team on the road by making innumerable mistakes in three weeks.

Consistently good teams find ways to win that close game against a team with no offense and find ways to make adjustments at the half. Consistently good teams don't continue to shoot themselves in the foot in the same fashion throughout a game.They would have played that game a lot closer, win or lose.

Coach Sands said what nearly ever coach wants to, but he has to realize. The old saying goes "Those who can't do, coach". Well the new one needs to be "Those that can't do, coach, Those that can't do or coach, post on an internet message board." Don't lower yourself to some of these yahoo's ... it's a no win battle.

Coach Sands said what nearly ever coach wants to, but he has to realize. The old saying goes "Those who can't do, coach". Well the new one needs to be "Those that can't do, coach, Those that can't do or coach, post on an internet message board." Don't lower yourself to some of these yahoo's ... it's a no win battle.

I heard some NFL coach once say that you are what your record says you are. If we win out and win our bowl game then we finish 11-2. Same as last year. Improvement? i don't know. tougher schedule? Yes.

But that's a lie ... You look at Spurrier's earlier teams. The 05 and 06 teams are a prime example. The 06 team was a TON better than the 05 team, but when the ball hit the turf for a fumble instead of bouncing our way like they all did in 05 ... they bounced to the other team. We lost a lot of close games in 06 that in 05 we won. If you lined those teams against each other 06 would spank 05 every single time. Sometimes the ball has to bounce your way for you to have a nice record.

You do realize that all the other teams aren't sitting still while we do all we can to improve?

We live in a small state, boardered by only two others and one of those has only ACC teams in it. We have a small population compared to most others and our history has been modest, at best. We don't have the name that makes great recruits sit up and take notice regardless of every other factor.

It will never be easy here. All those things make what SOS has done all the more remarkable.

We have a razor thin margin for error. We are not like some of the top schools where they get top 5 classes almost every year. We have a few great players, but we need to be injury free to maximize what we do have in talent, and injury free we have not been. To have a dream seaosn, we need all the bounces, the calls, the schedules to be favorable, especially at Home, and much else to go our way. These last two years have been even better seeing how lots of our talent has been injured or not availiable to play for various other reasons.

The next step is best reached when in state kids and others grow up remembering USC as being consistently good and generally unaware of the bad days and struggles. That involves far more than one or two years in a row. We went from hoping we would not embarrass ourselves on the field, to wishing we could be competitive on the field, to wishing we could scare other teams when we played, then to thinking we could win, to believing we can win, the final one is doing it, no matter the obstacle, but like has been already said, the other teams have the same hopes and believes and goals.

There comes a tipping point where, like the Yardcocks, we find ourselves reloading, but sometimes the best we have doesn't reach the top and lesser teams in terms of talent achieve higher levels. Where other schools can use history and trophy after trophy to showcase and rabid fans, and friendly media and great facilities to draw recruits, we have closed this gap, but for every great player we recruit, we have to find a very good overlooked kid and coach him up, much more difficult and time costing situation and a lesser room for error.

We are making progress. Sometimes just treading water is progress and buys time to continue on. Two steps forward, one step back or one and a half back, is not fun nor easy for the impatient to embrace, but that is what we are settled with here. One day we will catch lightening in the bottle, but even then we must maintain. One thing SOS has done, certainly, is provide a foundation for support to make us a real football program. Unlike so many times in our past, we would stink for years and then maybe have one or two good seasons, by our standards, only to slip back and have to wait another 9 or 10 years before we got excited, again.

We use to be the sure win, the Homecoming foe, the team others would pat on the head, the opponent teams looked past and ridiculed, the ones where the other team knew they did not have to play their best to win. Some Alabama fans may still feel that way, but doubtful so with their coaches and players.

These are our Golden Days and we hope they are still yet to be surpassed. Generations came and went without much to cheer for any others waited through decades of suffering to see us win against tough foes. Nothing is promised, nothing is set in stone, but we are closer than ever before. Now it comes down to the games and execution and the breaks, for we will seldom or ever out talent some programs. Our kids think and act like winners and are putting forth better effort on and off the field. Not much more you can honestly ask. You cannot demand the unreasonable and expect it to happen all based on a personal whim. Life and sports don't work that way.

Enjoy the ride we are on and count your blessings and hope for the future. That is your part in all this, as it is with all the fans. To do any less is letting the sliver of gold flakes fall through your fingers because you don't yet see a large nugget before you. Those are rare, very rare, and many never find them or have to cheat by stealing them. We should hope to be better than that. A slip, a stumble, a fall is preferred than knowing you lied and cheated to win or reach the top. We are still on the move and I can live with that for these last few years are ones I never thought I would live to see. 44 years of waiting have been well worth the price of hard earned success. God willing, another 5 or 10 is nothing. It is the journey that makes the destination worthwhile and the scars and heartache along the way become badges of honor and identification and pride. Considering everything, the life of a Gamecock fan is something I would not trade. I almost feel sorry for those who were born into a traditional powerhouse program where all they have known is winning. The road less travelled, the one with scorn and detours, everytime, for when we do win, no one else will be able to understand the meaning and value and depth of emotion and pride. They haven't earned it nor deserved it. That is our moment, the one only we can fathom. The progress is there for the patient and for the keen eye. Then again, I grew up in a world where entitlement was an unknown word and every kid did not get a trophy for participation. If you did badly, you got what you deserved and it was no one's fault but your own. The reality is we are still a work in progress and every inch we gain is difficult, but we are a hell of a lot closer than we were. We can always do better, but that takes time and hard work, not a bunch of unrealistic demands. I can wait and so can most others. Those who can't, do us no favors. If the players and coaches can do the heavy lifting, then let them get to it and get out of their way.

__________________"When I was young I looked like Al Capone, but I lacked his compassion." - Oscar Levant

I don't have any significant concerns about where we are as a program overall. I've been preaching for years now to people that USC will not be able to recruiting Top 5-10 classes anually despite those 'why not us' folks. I think reasonable expectations year in and year out is 8 wins. If you are a constant COMPETITIVE 8 win team year in and year out in the SEC, you are doing pretty well. Throw in a couple of seasons where you are 'loaded' and compete for conference crowns and double digit wins, and I'm elated.

But where my criticism and concerns lie are in these games where we have so much to play for and we just come out flat and disorganized. Coming out and getting pummeled against Florida is inexcusable. That was game of the year for us with everything on the line and our team didn't even bother to show up. THAT is what frustrates the hell out of me. If we would've played well and Florida makes a crucial play late in the game to win, fine, tip the hat and move on. But to get destroyed like that ... come on.

I don't have any significant concerns about where we are as a program overall. I've been preaching for years now to people that USC will not be able to recruiting Top 5-10 classes anually despite those 'why not us' folks. I think reasonable expectations year in and year out is 8 wins. If you are a constant COMPETITIVE 8 win team year in and year out in the SEC, you are doing pretty well. Throw in a couple of seasons where you are 'loaded' and compete for conference crowns and double digit wins, and I'm elated.

But where my criticism and concerns lie are in these games where we have so much to play for and we just come out flat and disorganized. Coming out and getting pummeled against Florida is inexcusable. That was game of the year for us with everything on the line and our team didn't even bother to show up. THAT is what frustrates the hell out of me. If we would've played well and Florida makes a crucial play late in the game to win, fine, tip the hat and move on. But to get destroyed like that ... come on.

I think that's what has people so upset. I for one thought those type of games were behind us.

I don't have any significant concerns about where we are as a program overall. I've been preaching for years now to people that USC will not be able to recruiting Top 5-10 classes anually despite those 'why not us' folks. I think reasonable expectations year in and year out is 8 wins. If you are a constant COMPETITIVE 8 win team year in and year out in the SEC, you are doing pretty well. Throw in a couple of seasons where you are 'loaded' and compete for conference crowns and double digit wins, and I'm elated.

But where my criticism and concerns lie are in these games where we have so much to play for and we just come out flat and disorganized. Coming out and getting pummeled against Florida is inexcusable. That was game of the year for us with everything on the line and our team didn't even bother to show up. THAT is what frustrates the hell out of me. If we would've played well and Florida makes a crucial play late in the game to win, fine, tip the hat and move on. But to get destroyed like that ... come on.

Regarding the florida game: Darn right and they should be criticized for that performance. We don't clap for losers around here anymore. We really haven't played well on the road all year and we better put one together in two weeks or it will be a looooooong offseason.

I think that's what has people so upset. I for one thought those type of games were behind us.

I think looking at the results of one game is taking too much of a myopic view on what is going on with the program. Florida is saying "what if" because of the Uga game. Uga is saying "what if" because of the sc game. Clemson is saying "what if" because of the FSU game. LSU is saying "what if" because of the Florida game. There are only three teams in the country that are not playing the "what if" game.

Our senior class just passed last years senior class for the most wins by a class in school history. Trust me, if the senior classes keep breaking the record that was held by the team the previous year, SC will end up with a championship.

I know that not winning the SEC is disappointing. I am disappointed as well. I can promise you that I was just as sick to my stomach as you were after the Florida game. But it is over. Why focus on that four weeks later? Some of you are not enjoying the positives that are happening at SC because of obsessing about the woulda coulda shouldas.

True story..... It reminds me of a guy a know that received an inheritance of $500,000, but he lost one of the annuities to a relative that was for $42,000. I got to the point where I couldn't even talk to him anymore because he was so angry about the $42,000 annuity that he was miserable. The guy had just received $500,000 that he didn't have before and he was miserable and eaten up with anger.

Regarding the florida game: Darn right and they should be criticized for that performance. We don't clap for losers around here anymore. We really haven't played well on the road all year and we better put one together in two weeks or it will be a looooooong offseason.

They should have been criticized for the week after the game. Not four weeks later. Not when there are games left and things that can still be accomplished.